Saturday, May 25, 2013

Stitching Saturday: Jayne Cobb hat, etc.

I'm super-proud of my latest knitting feat - the Jayne Cobb hat, stitched especially for my honey's upcoming birthday. By the way, it's totally ok for you to cringe and say "ew" every time I say "honey" - rest assured I do the same thing when reading about everybody else's "hubby". :)

He did a bang-up job of selecting the yarns himself - I took him to my favorite local yarn store, Yarnivore - and we roamed the aisles, squeezing and petting all of their merchandise. He was a stickler for color matching, too, which scored him bonus points on my side - holding a photo of Jayne Cobb up to every yarn we considered.

In the end he chose: Berroco Vintage Chunky #6176, Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Sauterne, Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Sunset.

All the yarns feel amazing - squishy soft and not itchy at all. The two Malabrigo shades kept reminding me of powdered macaroni sauce, so I was really hungry while I knit this. I love the variations in shading in these hand-dyed yarns - they create a really gorgeous effect. Also the tweedy natural-ness of the Berroco is lovely, too.

I used this handy pattern, and cast on 77 stitches because I knit pretty tight and small. I used my trusty KnitPicks interchangeable needles in size 10 - with the 24 inch cable it was a bit tight, but it loosened up nicely by the 2nd row.

At my honey's request, I added side braids, which look really nice (unlike the real Jayne hat which only has sad hangy strings). I used this helpful Youtube video to learn how to attach the braids - it was super-easy.

A quick aside... my hands look older now. Ever since I began my crafty adventures (some 8 years ago!) I've photographed my hands in my projects. It was never intentional, but there they were - holding something down, smoothing out a wrinkle, or just sitting there, to show scale. My hands used to be beautiful because I did nothing with them. Perfect, undisturbed skin, perfectly unmuscular fingers. I now have the hands, not just of an older human being, but of a crafter. I must admit I feel a certain sense of pride and accomplishment in this - that my hands have become an illustration of who I am...

Next up is this guy - begun 1 year ago this month, and finally finished last week!

I took a few pics of him with Hugo, for scale. I love the way his expression changes completely with that tiny uptilt to his toothy mouth. He looks like a real cut-up, I think. :)

I think he knit up very nicely, indeed - I used Red Heart Soft Baby Steps on size 6 needles. A very cushy, chunky, tight knit. I somehow managed to make 1 leg longer than the other when I stuffed him, but whatever. He's still charming. :)

And last but not least, here's the Labyrinth cross stitch, finally.

This sweet Wee Little Stitches pattern can be found in Danielle's Kitschy Digitals store. Thank you Danielle, for this wonderful pattern - I wish I had 10 hands and 36 more hours in the day so I could stitch them all! :)

My choice of light gray aida was not the best - the dog blends right in, as do many of the light colored elements, boo. I should have stuck with the camel colored background I started on. I'm just glad I'm finally finished, though. :)